Source: Stephen J. Lee of the Grand Forks Herald
According to a recent report in the Grand Forks Herald – a newspaper based out of North Dakota – former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle has been sentenced to 10 suspended days in jail. For those of you who are not familiar with a suspended sentence, it means that while Angle did get 10 days in jail – he doesn’t actually have to serve those days in a penitentiary. However, if Angle gets in trouble in that jurisdiction again, he immediately spends those 10 days in jail and then the authorities worry about any new charges.
In addition to the 10 suspended days in jail, Angle must undergo a chemical dependency evaluation, pay a $250 fine, pay $225 in court fees, and serve a year of unsupervised probation. You can read the full article below or on the Grand Forks Herald’s website.
The pro wrestler found apparently intoxicated behind the wheel of his vehicle in the ditch south of Grand Forks last month has been sentenced for reckless driving.
Kurt Angle didn’t appear in the courtroom before the judge who sentenced him Friday to a year of probation and fines and 10 days, all suspended, in jail.
Angle, 42, of Pennsylvania, was arrested March 25 when a North Dakota Highway Patrol officer found him sitting behind the wheel of an SUV in the median of Interstate 29 near the Thompson, N.D., exit, about 10 miles south of Grand Forks.
Angle, a gold medal wrestler in the 1996 Olympics, was on his way to a pro wrestling appearance in the Alerus Center. Angle first said snow and ice sent him into the ditch, but the trooper pointed out the road was clear and dry. Angle then said he was distracted by a text message on his cell phone.
The trooper smelled alcohol in the SUV and Angle failed a field sobriety test, and was charged with being in physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated. He was booked into the Grand Forks County jail, where he spent an hour or two before bailing out.
Because his blood alcohol level was barely over the 0.8 percent threshold, and he didn’t have prior drunk driving convictions, the Grand Forks County state’s attorney’s office reduced the charged to reckless driving.
Angle pleaded guilty April 8 through local attorney Alex Reichert to the reckless driving charge.
A sentencing hearing scheduled for Tuesday was canceled after the “Rule 43” criminal judgment was ruled Friday in Angle’s absence. He was ordered by state District Judge Joel Medd on Friday to get a chemical dependency evaluation, pay a $250 fine and $225 in court fees, and serve a year of unsupervised probation. A 10-day jail sentence was suspended.
His arrest made lots of news in the world of pro wrestling’s blogosphere, partly because Angle has been in trouble before.
In 2007, Angle was found not guilty on a drunk driving charge in Pennsylvania. Police had arrested him after reports of a man leaving a bar and driving erratically. Several patrons of the bar said Angle was the man who had driven from the bar apparently intoxicated. But Angle was found not guilty after challenging the reliability of the witnesses’ varied accounts.
In 2009, he was arrested after a domestic dispute with a woman in Pennsylvania who claimed he had harassed and assaulted her. The charges were dropped, although he also was charged with driving with a suspended license in that incident.
